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Boston Red Sox pitcher Rubby De La Rosa sits on the bench after being relieved against the Detroit Tigers in the sixth inning of a baseball game in Detroit, Friday, June 6, 2014. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
(Paul Sancya)

DETROIT -- Rubby De La Rosa was out of magic on Friday night in Comerica Park, his mid-90s fastballs getting eaten up by the aggressive maulers on the Detroit Tigers.

Ian Kinsler, Torii Hunter, Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez -- they all took a turn, stepping up against De La Rosa, swinging early in the count and teeing off on high fastballs and changeups as the Tigers rolled to a 6-2 win, extending the Red Sox's losing streak to four as they fell to 27-33.

Disappointed? Fair enough. De La Rosa set the bar high in his first start in a Red Sox uniform against the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park last week. He struck out eight over seven scoreless innings, allowing just four hits. The 25-year-old had it all working -- the fastball, changeup, slider and sinker.

Had the Red Sox found another ace, a flamethrower acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers in The Payroll-Shedding Trade of 2012? Not a perfect one, anyway, the dream of a budding superstar will have to be put on hold, at least until his next start.

The Tigers had scored just eight runs over their last four games, but knocked De La Rosa around for nine hits, scoring four runs over 5 2/3 innings.

"He's been great," said Dustin Pedroia. "He got two outs in some innings and gave up a couple runs, but I thought his stuff -- he's got great stuff. You're confident out there when he's got the ball. He gave us a chance. We just didn't swing the bats."

As far the Red Sox are concerned, De La Rosa threw the same high-quality pitches Friday that he threw in first start, albeit with different results. He missed a few spots this time. Two of them were launched out of the park.

Any other night, maybe it's not much of a story. But when the Red Sox go 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and score just two runs, even a young pitcher needs to be ace-like.

"It's a little bit harder," De La Rosa said of pitching under such demands. "I had to throw my best pitches tonight to try to win.

"There's no pressure on me, I just tried to make pitches. Next time I'll try to focus on my location and keep the ball down."

De La Rosa didn't lack confidence, chucking his fastball in the strike zone and daring the Tigers to swing. He threw just seven pitches in a hitless first inning; 13 more in a hitless second.

By the third inning the Tigers had caught on. Two hits had produced a run. Four more hits in the fourth added another. Kinsler and Hunter then connected on back-to-back home runs in the fifth.

Clay Buchholz's replacement in the starting rotation didn't fare much better than Buchholz.

"Once again he came out, I thought he had very good stuff," manager John Farrell said. "Two things that kind of stood out: Any time he elevated a pitch, they've got some professional hitters. You know, they squared him up when he was up in the strike zone. And then, a couple of occasions when he'd get two quick outs, there was some mislocated pitches that he ended up paying for with the back-to-back home runs."

The Red Sox, short on right-handed bats and reliant upon those who hit left-handed, sent out a lineup with five lefties to face Tigers' lefty Drew Smyly, who entered the game holding lefties to a .130 average and .449 OPS this season.

Red Sox left-handers went 2-for-10 off him; right-handers went 3-for-7.

Boston had a few chances, but rarely converted, scoring just a pair off a Xander Bogaerts double in the first inning and a Jonny Gomes sacrifice fly in the sixth.

For the eighth time in the last 10 matchups between the Red Sox and Tigers, the Tigers knocked the opposing starter out of the game first.